Essay

Essay

Glossary Term – Person

Massachusetts native Mercy Otis Warren (1728–1814) was the sister of James Otis and the wife of James Warren. She was also active in the patriot cause during the Revolution. Her home was a regular meeting place for Revolutionary leaders, and John and Abigail Adams were among her circle of friends. Warren’s play The Adulateur, published anonymously in 1772, was a scathing attack on Britain’s treatment of America. She followed up with a series of similar (and also anonymous) political pieces, before publishing a book of poetry under...

Teaching Resource

The American Revolution, a byproduct of events both on the North American continent and abroad, unleashed a movement that focused on egalitarianism in ways that had never been seen before. Even John Adams commented on these changes in a letter to his wife Abigail. He wrote, “We have been told that that our Struggle has loosened the bands of Government everywhere. That Children and Apprentices were disobedient—that schools and Colledges were grown turbulent—that Indians slighted their Guardians and Negroes grew insolent...

Teaching Resource

Many students misconstrue the American Revolution as a period of unanimous support for independence from Great Britain. However, colonists generally considered themselves loyal British citizens, asserting rightful constitutional claims that had been previously established through their colonial charters or contracts. After the French and Indian War ended in 1763, many colonies saw their right of self-rule stripped away by Parliament as it exerted greater authority over its empire. In reaction to this attempt to...